The blame for the increasing compensation culture in Irish society lies squarely with the medical profession, a former attorney general, Mr Harry Whelehan SC, said yesterday.
Mr Whelehan, a barrister with an extensive personal injuries practice, said the "curing" of the present system lay in the hands of the medical profession.
Speaking at the Irish Medical Organisation's meeting, he said if there was wholesale abuse of personal injury claims it was "on the back of bad practice" by doctors operating in a "semi-political, sly way, rather than squaring up to the client".
Mr Whelehan said there would continue to be a situation that if a citizen was injured as a result of negligence he should have a right to be compensated in damages "in a fair and just way, if necessary by going to court".
He said lawyers did not sign documents to initiate proceedings unless it was proven prima facie to them that injury had occurred and loss ensued.
"If it is the case that there is wholesale rip-off of the system it is because bogus plaintiffs are getting a lift-off for bogus claims by medical practitioners. GPs may refer patients on to a specialist to get them out of his hair".
If a plaintiff was given an expectation of support from a GP for a bogus claim the wheels started turning and solicitors became involved. Mr Whelehan said it was his experience that the medical profession's attitude to the courts was "not helpful, not good, very defensive and very unsupportive of the patient".
It was almost impossible to get doctors to consult barristers in personal injuries cases, he said.
"By and large they do not regard themselves as having a civil obligation to play an active, definitive, responsible role in the system. You are cynical about it but don't do what is required for the discharge of your professional duty to yourself and your client".
Dr Cormac McNamara, a former IMO president, proposed setting up a panel of independent medical examiners to assist judges as a method of "bringing the rot to an end" in personal injury claims, particularly high-tech areas such as noise-induced hearing loss. However, Mr Whelehan said he did not think this was a good idea.
Dr MacNamara, a Waterford GP, said some doctors were "coconspirators" and suing for compensation was becoming a general malaise in Irish society. "It is just short of a national scandal that half of the ambulances going to accident and emergency departments are carrying people looking for documentation relating to litigation."
Dr MacNamara said that in 20 years of taking details from patients who had had car accidents, he had yet to encounter one who was not wearing a seat belt. "I suggest as a society we are not the most reliable as witnesses. I have had people complaining of whiplash after they fell backwards on the stairs."
A substantial number of people, he said, were "gilding the lily" in compensation terms. A substantial number of people with nothing wrong with them were getting money, while a substantial number with serious injuries were not getting properly compensated, and a substantial number of doctors were saying what was wanted of them.